East-West Relations 13. Early solidarity with South Africa – Edelgard Nkobi-Goldberg and Friends By Elisabeth Quart When I took up African Studies at Leipzig’s Karl Marx University in 1962, I could not have imagined that on 11 April 2013, with countless friends, companions and sympathisers, I would be able to honour and praise Denis Goldberg, the outstanding South African fighter for human rights and human dignity, against racism and oppression, on his eightieth birthday. My studies began after the famous Africa Year of 1960 when, after Guinea and Ghana, 17 African states won their national independence. The Africa Institute of Leipzig University had been closed in 1938 by the German fascist government. In 1960 it was re-opened by the leadership of the German Democratic Republic and in 1962 studies began. At that time the African National Congress (ANC) had already been fighting for 50 years against racial discrimination and the ever more perfected policy of the racist regime in South Africa. Amongst my fellow students were Edelgard Schulreich, later to become Denis Goldberg’s second wife, and Edelgard’s first husband, Zenzo Nkobi. He was the eldest son of a leading member of the ANC. Another fellow student was Joan Oehme, nee Nair. She was South African and, like Zenzo, had been delegated by the ANC to study in the GDR. Joan’s brother, Billy Nair, a leading member of the ANC, was arrested in 1963, and in 1964, in a trial related to the Rivonia trial, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on Robben Island. His cell was opposite Nelson Mandela’s. In seminars and discussions Zenzo and Joan gave us students of African Studies extensive up-to-date information about the situation in South Africa and the activities of the anti-Apartheid forces. In 1967 I 93 completed my studies. Edelgard and Joan later began to work in Berlin. I went to Guinea where a youth brigade from the GDR was training apprentices in a motor cycle workshop and serviced and repaired motor cycles. The GDR delivered a large number of motor cycles of the ‘MZ’ type from the Zschopau Motor Works in Saxony to Guinea. We lived in a former farm building on the edge of the town of Conakry. I will never forget the reception for Miriam Makeba at Conakry airport in 1967. She had come at the invitation of President Sekou Toure. At an evening reception in Sekou Toure’s residence, the singer and opponent of Apartheid, already world famous, spoke about the reasons for her exile and her feelings on standing once more on African soil. Then the problems in South Africa were once again present. At that time Denis Goldberg and the other leading members of the ANC who had been sentenced in the Rivonia trial had already been in prison for four years. Between 1973 and 1975 I worked in the GDR Solidarity Committee. This committee rendered aid in humanitarian catastrophes and supported national liberation movements. At that time there was already a broad field of cooperation between social forces in the GDR and opponents of Apartheid in South Africa. From 1967 Sechaba, the journal of the ANC, and other publications were printed and dispatched for the ANC in the GDR. We collected signatures for the freeing of the political prisoners in South Africa, prepared calendars and shopping bags with designs by African artists, printed posters against colonialism, racism and Apartheid and sold them at solidarity bazaars. In May 1974 in Berlin we mounted a photo exhibition, ‘Apartheid No’. It was opened at the same time as the UN Special Committee on Apartheid was meeting in Berlin. We workers at the Solidarity Committee spoke in factories, schools and other places, to deepen the feelings of solidarity among the population. The GDR also supported the military struggle of the ANC, in particular by training military cadres in the GDR. In 1963 the first delegation of the ANC visited our Solidarity Committee. In 1973 the ANC was able to open a mission with semi-diplomatic status in Berlin. Edelgard was already married to Zenzo Nkobi at that time. She worked for the official GDR press agency in Berlin. In 1975 Edelgard 94 left the GDR with Zenzo. She lived first in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), later in Zambia and Zimbabwe. She reported from there about developments in southern Africa for various newspapers and journals, for example, for Neues Deutschland and Afrika Sued. Her articles, mostly published under the pseudonym Hanna Ndlovu, were highly valued by Africa experts. Edelgard was an outstanding journalist. Readers could always rely on her information. She was able to place current developments in a historical context and make political connections clear. Her husband Zenzo worked as a photo reporter for the ANC and other liberation organisations in southern Africa. Edelgard knew the course of the liberation struggles in this region better than almost all other journalists. Thanks to her contacts with many personalities, numerous journeys and her presence on the spot, she always conveyed a real picture of developments in the region and never lost a critical view of them. My work also took me to many African countries. I have fond memories of Dar es Salaam. At a lovely celebratory meeting for the 1st of May, GDR citizens who lived there presented money and little presents which GDR children in the kindergarten and school had made for the children in the ANC refugee centre in Tanzania. Through the years there were many such experiences. In 1987 the ANC was honoured in many meetings in the GDR for its 75 year long struggle against racism and for the freedom and equality of the citizens of South Africa. I will never forget the enormous joy I felt when my Leipzig University awarded an honorary doctorate to Nelson Mandela in November 1987. The then ANC President Oliver Tambo accepted the certificate for Nelson Mandela. Later I gave photos of the ceremony at Leipzig University to Denis, who put them at the disposal of the newly created museum in Liliesleaf. I met Edelgard again after her husband Zenzo died in 1993. We had founded the German African Society (DAFRIG) with sections in Berlin and Leipzig in 1991. Edelgard frequently spoke at meetings of our society about developments in southern Africa. One day in Berlin she introduced me to Denis. He too was a popular guest at our meetings. 95 When my husband and I first wanted to visit South Africa in 2000, we discussed our projected route with Edelgard and Denis. For us up to 1989 South Africa had been a country ‘behind the iron curtain.’ After the trip, which was in fact our first direct contact with South Africa, many relations, friends, colleagues and acquaintances wanted to know what impressions we had brought back with us. The former citizens of the GDR were particularly interested. We reported our experiences and encountered a strong interest in getting to know South Africa. In the past twelve years my husband and I have travelled to South Africa with 30 tourist groups. The itineraries included meetings with Billy Nair, who lived until his death in October 2008 near Durban, with Edelgard and Denis in Cape Town, visits to Robben Island – sometimes accompanied by Denis – visits to the memorial for Chief Albert Luthuli, for many years President of the ANC, in a little place called Groutville near Stanger, and other historical places. In this way we got to know more than the beautiful countryside and the customs of different groups of inhabitants of South Africa. The campaign which Denis initiated in London to collect books for South African children also influenced our tour programme. Olive Goll was an important partner for Denis in this project. She was responsible for the further education of teachers in KwaZulu-Natal and farm buildings near Scottburgh had been put at her disposal for the purpose. Olive ran distance courses for teachers by radio and further education courses in the big rooms of the farm. The locality was suitable for storing, unpacking, sorting and dispatching to the schools of the province the contents of a shipping container - 50,000 books. Olive had to organize help for the task, of course, which she found among white women as well. We visited different schools in KwaZulu-Natal Province and everywhere, in almost every classroom, the teachers and pupils showed us proudly a corner with a book case. Books for blacks to borrow hardly existed in Apartheid times. They encouraged black children in particular to read. The visits to the schools, which were often remote from the main roads, surrounded by green hills in rural areas, also showed us the challenges which the ANC faced and still faces today. The children had mostly a walk to school of 60 minutes 96 morning and afternoon. The law says that all pupils should have a hot lunch in the schools, but the reality was often different, unfortunately. On our trips we also visited families from different groups of the population of KwaZulu-Natal: Zulu, Indian and white. Here we heard about this or that feature of family life, heard something of the experiences of families during Apartheid times and opinions about life since 1994. These meetings in the private surroundings of the hosts conveyed unforgettable impressions of the past and present of the country. In March 2003 Edelgard and Denis joined one of our tour groups. Neither of them had previously been to KwaZulu-Natal Province. During our tour Denis spoke to a farmer of German origin who had headed Radio Zulu for several years in apartheid times and undoubtedly knew the politics of Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s Inkatha Party well.